


The Empty One

by liz_mo



Category: Belgariad/Malloreon Series - David & Leigh Eddings
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-17
Updated: 2012-12-17
Packaged: 2017-11-21 09:36:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/596223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liz_mo/pseuds/liz_mo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Garion's and Zakath's friendship</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Empty One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DarkSeraphim](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkSeraphim/gifts).



> Thanks to g, the bestest beta reader ever, for finding all my superfluous commas.
> 
> Thank you, dear DarkSeraphim, for letting me play with these characters! I love all of them so much!

The night after Zakath had been poisoned, Garion sat for a long time at the sick emperor's bedside.  
His eyes kept straying to the white face amidst the lavender-coloured flowers.

Zakath had not been what he'd expected. Not at all.  
The emperor of all of Mallorea was a cruel man, who seemed to not know any different. 

But the talk they’d had the night before had shown a very different side of the emperor. Zakath seemed to have a certain sense of humour that was very compatible with Garion's own. Between Belgarath, Silk and Polgara, Garion felt very young at times, but despite Zakath’s greater age, Garion never felt that way with him. 

Their talk the night before had been a talk between equals. It had even been fun in places. 

And then there had been the incident with Cyradis. The smile on Zakath's face when he had glanced at the seeress was not that of a cruel man.

The turning point, though, had been when Garion had shown Zakath the truth about Urgit. Robbed of his chance of revenge against the man who had killed the love of his life; the way Zakath had brokenly sobbed about the needless deaths of thousands hadn't been the way of a cold blooded murderer. 

Still, they needed to get away. Zandramas had Geran and nothing, not even the emperor of Mallorea, would stop Garion from finding his son. Garion shook his head sadly. They might even have been something like friends, if things had been different.

Garion sighed and stood up. He needed to find Silk. They needed a plan.

*

Chretienne's hooves beat relentlessly against the dry ground of endless Mallorea. The great grey stallion was in his element. Days upon days of just running and the horse never tired. Garion didn't have to exchange him at the inn like the others did with their horses. Every morning he almost looked forward to another day of riding.  
While the endlessness of the countryside was annoying, it gave Garion a lot of time to think. Too much, maybe.

His eyes narrowed as he looked at the back of the dark haired man riding a bit before him. While Zakath's escort wore heavily decorated armour, Zakath himself wore plain but well-made armour which would serve him well in combat. Garion didn't know how well the emperor could actually fight or how long it had been since he'd had to.  
This was just one of the hundred things that Garion didn't know about Zakath.

The man was a mystery, and Garion wasn't happy with it.

As much he had started to like Zakath personally, he didn't trust the Emperor's change of heart. It felt like Zakath could turn on them at any moment. And what would happen once they reached Mal Zeth was anyone’s guess.

 

*

The evening after they left Mal Zeth, Garion stared moodily into the flames.  
In the burning city, he'd left a friend who might not be his friend any more. Friends didn't leave each other when one of them had to fight for his empire, plagued by pestilence.  
Garion's heart constricted. Then he steeled himself. His anger at Zakath was still burning bright and there was one thing more important than any friendships in the world.

He had to find Geran.

*

Now Zakath was a member of their group. Garion wasn't sure how he felt about that. On the one hand, it seemed like he and Zakath could become friends again. The emperor's reaction to what he’d perceived as betrayal had been icy. On the other hand, they now had the Emperor of Mallorea travelling with them, which didn't make them any less conspicuous than they already were. Even if Zakath was now wearing a mercenary’s outfit and had started to grow a beard.

Their group had some very unique skill sets and after seeing them used in battle several times Zakath slowly lost his initial reserve against all things magical.  
It didn't help as much as Garion had hoped though.  
After Zakath had overcome his initial giddiness at leaving his duties and his empire behind, he got very reckless.  
Garion had a lot of trouble in explaining that they couldn't do _everything_ with sorcery.  
It took several days until Belgarath stopped twitching. 

Garion actually had fun re-teaching Zakath the basic sword fighting skills.  
Zakath picked them up quickly and whenever they had a few moments to spare they would find themselves engaged with their swords sparking. 

It took several weeks but one morning Garion woke up and thought of his friend. 

He smiled. 

Garion really, really hoped that this time they would remain friends. 

It certainly looked like it. 

*

Garion looked up from the letter he had been reading. Or rather trying to read. As soon as he had started reading Garion had to remember the course of their friendship.

„I miss Zakath“, he said aloud. 

Ce'Nedra hummed under her breath. She was bent over a letter from Cyradis.

Garion found it to be true, though. Zakath was his best friend, after all. And they lived half a world apart and never saw each other. So it was only normal, right? 

„Yes, dear“, Ce'Nedra said absent mindedly, and Garion realised he'd said the last part out loud.

Garion sighed. There was no talking to Ce'Nedra at the moment.  
He stood up and went to the adjacent chambers to look in on his sleeping children. Both Prince Geran and Princess Beldaran were sleeping peacefully in their beds.

Wolf had curled up in front of the fireplace of Geran's chamber. He opened a lazy eye as Garion peeked in.

_Everything alright?_ Garion asked in wolfish. Wolf just snorted softly and closed his eye again.  
Garion resolved to take Wolf out on a hunt soon. He was getting fat.

Next stop on his late-night stroll was the throne room. The orb was humming softly and flared for a moment when Garion stepped into the room. He closed his eyes and listened to the Orb's song for a while. He remembered when he'd shown Zakath the truth about Urgit and how shaken the man had been. Garion thought that maybe in that moment his feelings for Zakath might have been tipped towards friendship. Because as broken and guilt-stricken as the emperor had been in that moment, he had been nothing but human. And Garion knew what that felt like.

Last stop on Garion's nightly stroll was the battlements.

There, Belgarion, King of Riva, Godslayer, Overlord of the West and Lord of the Western Sea, Keeper of the Orb of Aldur, and former Child of Light, thought about responsibilities, costs and travel times. 

It was Garion, country lad raised on Faldor's farm, who went back to his sleeping children and asked his wife:

„Do you think we can visit them soon?“

There was no need to specify who he meant.


End file.
